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"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."
These words from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. echoed in our heads every day along the 118-mile trek from...

"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."

These words from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. echoed in our heads every day along the 118-mile trek from Charlottesville to Washington, DC that began on the anniversary of the “I Have a Dream” speech and ended at the MLK Memorial. Entitled “The March to Confront White Supremacy,” we came together to demand that white supremacy be addressed both by this administration and in all of the ways that it takes root in our communities.

On August 11 and 12, White Supremacists rallied in Charlottesville against legislation passed by Vice Mayor and Local Progress Member Wes Bellamy, as well as the removal of a statue of Robert E Lee. White nationalists marched through the streets, many of them armed, holding tiki torches and chanting Nazi slogans. One woman, Heather Heyer, lost her life standing up against hatred when a car plowed into a crowd of people who turned out to protest the white supremacist rally.

“I can’t believe this is happening in 2017”, was a common response. People of color, especially Black people, were not shocked. Resistance has been the state of existence for Black people in this country and resistance was the response to this instance of domestic terrorism. The Center for Popular Democracy joined the Working Families Party, the Women’s March, If Not Now, Color of Change, and Democracy Spring to bring together a multi-racial, multi-faith coalition that stood united in opposition to white supremacy.

White Supremacy as both policy and rhetoric has been a powerful political agent in our country since its founding. But under this President, it has flourished in the public eye. We who believe in freedom cannot rest: now is the time to take bold action again to defeat white supremacy and honor MLK’s legacy. Kumar Rao, CPD Senior Staff Attorney said of his experiences:

“Participating in the #Cville2DC march was an emotional and inspiring experience. During the several days I was at the march, I bonded with and spoke with folks of all backgrounds, faiths, and geographies who felt a calling to come together and to convert outrage against white supremacy into action with moral clarity.”

After arriving in Washington, DC the march turned into a sustained vigil in Farragut Square against white supremacy in what has been dubbed “Impeachment Square.” This vigil will continue throughout the month of September and join the March for Racial Justice on September 30 in Washington, DC and in New York City on October 1. You can get involved by joining the marches and by following the work of the Center for Popular Democracy’s Racial Justice Team.

On Friday, September 22 a group of about 200 activists, led by high school students, took to the steps of the NYC Department of Education and marched to Manhattan Criminal Summons Court calling for...

On Friday, September 22 a group of about 200 activists, led by high school students, took to the steps of the NYC Department of Education and marched to Manhattan Criminal Summons Court calling for an end to arrests, summons, and NYPD juvenile reports in schools for misdemeanors and non-criminal violations. The action was organized and led by student members of the Urban Youth Collaborative (UYC). UYC is a coalition that includes Make the Road New York, Sistas and Brothas United, and Future of Tomorrow. Watch the rally again here.

The protest was aimed at highlighting analysis (conducted by UYC and the Center for Popular Democracy) of the most recent NYPD data which shows that during the last year young people in NYC schools experienced 1,106 arrests, 960 NYPD juvenile reports, 805 summonses, and 2,702 mental health crises in schools where NYPD officers intervened.

Although certain recent policy reforms regarding the mandate of NYPD officers in schools have led to a reduction in arrests and summons of students, Black and Latinx youth account for nearly all the young people funneled into the school-to-prison pipeline and are increasingly vulnerable to the school-to-deportation pipeline. Black and Latinx youth represent 67% of all students enrolled in NYC public schools but account for 92.4% of all students arrested, 88.6% of students receiving summons, 88.8% of NYPD juvenile reports, and 96% of students handcuffed during a mental health crisis. The youngest student handcuffed during a “child-in-crisis” incident was a five-year-old Black girl. Nearly 78% of all arrests, summons, and juvenile reports in schools are for misdemeanors and non-criminal violations.

At the rally, a number of speakers highlighted these severe racial disparities characterizing the school-to-prison and school-to-deportation pipelines and called for urgent, transformative policy reform. In particular, youth leaders called on Mayor de Blasio to end the practice of using arrests, summonses, and juvenile reports for misdemeanors and non-criminal violations.

"New York City has been criminalizing Black and Latinx students for normal youthful behavior for decades. It’s 2017, and we are the only young people getting arrested, given summonses, and handcuffed. It can’t be acceptable that we are treated differently because of the color of our skin,” said Matthew Beeston, a youth leader of Future of Tomorrow and the Urban Youth Collaborative.

Irma Barrios, youth leader at Make the Road New York and the Urban Youth Collaborative, added that “Schools should be sanctuaries full of love and respect, not a place where we are pushed into the criminal justice system. Students of color can’t find sanctuaries until our school system stops feeding youth into Rikers Island and other detention centers.”

Yesterday morning, dozens of people from across the country showed up at GOP Senators’ homes chanting “kill the repeal, don’t kill us” ahead of a critical vote that afternoon to repeal the Affordable...

Yesterday morning, dozens of people from across the country showed up at GOP Senators’ homes chanting “kill the repeal, don’t kill us” ahead of a critical vote that afternoon to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). And still, by the slimmest of margins, Senate Republicans voted yesterday to advance a Trumpcare bill that doesn’t even exists yet. No matter how you spin it, every non-partisan analysis shows that tens of millions of Americans will lose coverage, health care costs will go up, and critical protections will be lost.

It’s disgraceful and and infuriating, but the fight is not even close to being over. We can still stop Trumpcare as the final vote on whatever bill the GOP come up with will likely take place on Thursday or Friday. We must create even more public pressure. Our response needs to be overwhelming.

Please call (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to each of your Senators. Tell them to vote NO on Trumpcare. They need to hear from as many people as possible. If you’re interested in joining the fight on the ground, please contact CPD’s Jennifer Flynn!

On June 29, Oregon became the first state to pass a statewide fair workweek law! The Oregon Fair Workweek bill passed the House with a 46-13 bipartisan vote and is headed to the Governor Kate Brown’s...

On June 29, Oregon became the first state to pass a statewide fair workweek law! The Oregon Fair Workweek bill passed the House with a 46-13 bipartisan vote and is headed to the Governor Kate Brown’s desk for her signature. The bill already passed the State Senate with another bipartisan 23-6 vote and Governor Brown is widely expected to sign.

At the forefront of the campaign were working mom’s like Kayleigh Game who said, “The bill certainly will make a world of difference for moms like me. Again and again for the past few years, I have cycled through jobs that promised stability, only to find myself thrown into chaos.” The Oregon Fair Workweek law will put an end to that chaos and only happened because leaders like Kayleigh along with Oregon Working Families Party, UFCW Local 555, CPD-partner Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN) and many others stepped up to pass this historic measure. This victory made headlines in the Washington Post, Huffington Post, Vox, American Prospect, Racked, The Hill, San Francisco Chronicle and Seattle Times.

The Oregon bill will give employees a good faith estimate of weekly work hours upon hiring, two weeks’ advance notice of their schedule, compensation for employer-initiated work schedule changes, at least ten hours’ rest between shifts, and a right to input into work schedules. The Oregon bill would be the first Fair Workweek law to cover hotel, casino, and other hospitality workers.

The victory follows closely in the wake of a series of victories for the fair workweek movement, with the introduction of legislation to ensure a fair workweek in Chicago this week. Last month, New York City became the largest city in the country to win a fair workweek, ensuring better hours for more than 65,000 workers. New York followed Seattle, San Francisco, Washington, DC, Emeryville, and San Jose, CA, all of which have passed fair workweek policies in recent years. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) introduced national legislation to provide fair work hours earlier this month.

Young people have often played significant roles in building and leading powerful social movements, protesting injustice and driving progressive and revolutionary social change. Today, more and more...

Young people have often played significant roles in building and leading powerful social movements, protesting injustice and driving progressive and revolutionary social change. Today, more and more youth are becoming politically engaged in their communities, in organizing for social justice, and in resisting and challenging the harsh and unjust policies of the Trump administration. The youth who join our organizations and movements today, stand to be our leaders tomorrow. That is why CPD and the Urban Youth Collaborative (UYC) convened 35 youth leaders and 12 youth organizers from 11 of our affiliate organizations for a Youth Power & Leadership Retreat from June 2-4.

Youth leaders from CASA (MD), Communities United (MD), Good Jobs Now Detroit (MI), Living United for Change Arizona (LUCHA), Make the Road CT, Make the Road NY, Make the Road NY, Make the Road PA, Organize Florida / Florida Student Power Network, PCUN (OR), and West Virginia Healthy Kids and Families Coalition came together to share their experiences, aspirations and ideas for working together for change. They also created a timeline of the organizing and campaign work they want to tackle over the next 5 years.

These CPD affiliates are working on issues ranging from tuition assistance for undocumented immigrants, to tackling homelessness, to uplifting the beauty of communities through art, to the dismantling of the school-to-prison pipeline and more. Some of the organizations are just in their first year of youth organizing, while others have been building power with young people for twenty years.

Throughout the retreat, the youth identified a number of shared goals and priorities including: building organizing power, building statewide networks, developing campaigns and mobilizing together, and creating a community of learning among the youth organizers and their organizations. CPD will continue to help bring these youth together and to provide support to our affiliates in building leadership pipelines for these young activists within their organizations and beyond.

On June 27, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted to divest $40 million from the city’s security investment portfolio with Wells Fargo. After four months of persistent public pressure from...

On June 27, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted to divest $40 million from the city’s security investment portfolio with Wells Fargo. After four months of persistent public pressure from Divest LA, Indigenous Peoples, and supporters insisting upon the creation of new ethical banking standards and practices, the City of Los Angeles took a step forward - joining other major metropolitan cities across the United States by divesting from Wells Fargo, a financial institution known for its legacy of harming citizens, the environment, and people of color. CPD affiliate, ACCE, played a key role as part of the Divest LA coalition.

The initial divestment of $40 million is an important first step in untangling the business relationship between the City of Los Angeles and Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo's most recent notorious and unethical business practices include opening millions of fraudulent bank accounts, engaging in predatory lending practices, and financing destructive non-renewable energy projects, which includes funding a significant portion of Energy Transfer Partner's Dakota Access Pipeline. We believe that today’s unanimous vote by all Los Angeles city council members sends a clear message to Wall Street banks.

Did you know the Center for Popular Democracy is now one of the nation’s largest organizing networks with close to 50 partners and affiliates across 35 states? In the last 6 months, a number of...

Did you know the Center for Popular Democracy is now one of the nation’s largest organizing networks with close to 50 partners and affiliates across 35 states? In the last 6 months, a number of fantastic organizations have joined our network to build a strong, resilient movement for progressive change rooted in communities of color and working families. From Pennsylvania to Puerto Rico, these incredible movers and shakers work on a variety of issues our communities continue to face from environmental justice to reproductive rights to mass incarceration and many more. These new affiliates include, The Center for Coalfield Justice in Southwestern PA, 215 People’s Alliance in Philadelphia, PA, Churches United for Fair Housing (CUFFH) in Brooklyn, NY, Hoosier Action in Indiana, Step Up Louisana, and Taller Salud from Puerto Rico.

With 20+ years in Southwestern PA, Center for Coalfield Justice (CCJ) is an environmental justice advocacy group fighting for the public health and our environment. Currently, they’re winning their campaign to protect streams in a state park from longwall coal mining, and continuously growing volunteer teams to aid their fight for economic and environmental justice in PA. CCJ was recently featured in The New Yorker!

215 People’s Alliance (215PA) is a multi-racial organizing effort fighting unaccountable big banks , unsubstantial public education, mass incarceration, and the gentrification and displacement plaguing their members in the southwestern area of the city. Their most current, Our City Our Schools, leads a coalition effort to bring back local control of Philadelphia schools. 215PA also focuses on issue and electoral organizing in the Philadelphia District Attorney race to win a mandate for far reaching reforms and stop over incarceration in Philadelphia.

Churches United for Fair Housing (CUFFH), a grassroots organization based in Brooklyn, NY that is fighting to preserve and create vibrant, inclusive communities that are truly affordable to working families in NYC using community organizing, youth engagement, and sophisticated social services. CUFFH provides Affordable Housing and Tenant Rights workshops, Financial Empowerment and Affordable Housing application assistance, and Tenant Organizing and referrals to legal services, as well as leading immigrant protection advocacy efforts and a Youth Organizing and Leadership program for youth 14-24.

Hoosier Action is a member-owned and led organization that brings Southern Indiana’s working families together to fight for healthcare, education, housing and other collective member interests. Currently, they’re running a mass canvass operations around Medicaid and Food Stamp defense, and building out teams around our political and issue work.

Step Up Louisiana is a multiracial and multigenerational membership group that organizes for economic and education justice through Neighborhood Organizing Committees while supporting members through Training and Leadership Development, and having clear political vision and electoral strategy. Step Up LA was key in coordinating with CPD’s network to force Uber CEO Travis Kalanick step down from Trump's advisory council.

Finally, Taller Salud functions in Puerto Rico with 37 years of experience as the only feminist organization on the island dedicated to the promotion of health as a powerful tool to transform the lives of the girls and women they work with, in order to bring about integral health, and the development of their communities. Taller Salud is based in Loíza, Puerto Rico, a 30,000 inhabitants town 20 miles East from San Juan with 48% of its population living under the poverty line.

On July 4, CPD, the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA), Citi Community Development, and Cities for Citizenship (C4C) released a new report that shows the surging interest in citizenship...

On July 4, CPD, the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA), Citi Community Development, and Cities for Citizenship (C4C) released a new report that shows the surging interest in citizenship across the country and demonstrates how naturalization can benefit cities, as this national campaign seeks to accelerate the pace of citizenship applications over the coming year. The report was featured in CityLab, Next City, and El Dario.

The report looks at the impact of the Cities for Citizenship program, which helps cities invest in programs designed to encourage citizenship and let green card holders overcome hurdles to naturalization. The C4C program contributed to the national uptick in naturalization applications in 2016, which saw a record 970,000 applications for citizenship - a 24 percent increase over 2015. The number of cities joining the program has also skyrocketed, with 18 new city and county partners since the start of 2016, nearly doubling the total number of cities involved. C4C’s network of municipal partners grew by 46 percent in just the first six months of 2017.

The Cities for Citizenship program now spans 38 cities across the country. The new additions include Mayors from small towns and states deep in the heartland, underlining that citizenship is an issue that bridges the partisan gap.

Each year Local Progress (LP) convenes members from across the country together to celebrate local progressive victories and plan for the year ahead. This year, more than ever, the coordination of...

Each year Local Progress (LP) convenes members from across the country together to celebrate local progressive victories and plan for the year ahead. This year, more than ever, the coordination of elected officials is critical to protecting our most vulnerable communities in this political climate led by a hostile administration.

Starting tomorrow, nearly 200 LP members will convene in in Austin to share best practices in municipal policy, discuss strategies to build power locally and network coordinated responses from our cities. We are excited to report that the network of progressives continues to grow with over well over 50% attendees this year being new to the year convening. Our membership continues to get more diverse, with nearly 50% of our attendees being women and 50% being people of color.

Are you interested in running for office? We can help you! Check out this incredible video featuring dozens of Local Progress members and learn how you can start serving your local municipality.

Local Progress members will be working to lay out a campaign agendas around everything from protecting our immigrant communities, police reform & just policing, infrastructure, economic justice and more. In addition to designing plans on how to fight back against all of the national work, members will be joining the resistance against Governor Abbott who just signed one of the most anti-immigrant bills in the country and just called a special session to do pass an especially egregious attack on the working people of Texas.

It is in this room that Local Progress members will work together to get creative around working with community partners the most impacted communities to both fight back against a hostile administration, as well as lead trans-local policies, and shape the state and national discourse on a variety of issues.

"This is an amazing accomplishment. One more for Fed Up! The results Fed Up has achieved were impossible to imagine four years ago."- Larry Mishel, President of the Economic Policy Institute
When...

"This is an amazing accomplishment. One more for Fed Up! The results Fed Up has achieved were impossible to imagine four years ago."- Larry Mishel, President of the Economic Policy Institute

When the Federal Reserve raises rates and slows down job growth and wage growth and sacrifices opportunities for Black and Brown communities, its primary justification is the 2% inflation target. But what if the Fed reconsidered that target? It's a radical idea, one that Janet Yellen and the Federal Reserve have consistently shot down. But that was before Fed Up organized prominent economists in the ivory tower and Black and Brown workers in the streets to challenge the underlying logic of Fed decisions.

Fed Up's campaign success was highlighted in Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal,The Atlantic, Buzzfeed, and many more. You can see the full press round up below.

According to Business Insider, this is a major shift that will have massive economic benefits for working families "and one that will have significant long-term implications for Fed policy. A higher inflation target would mean the central bank can provide additional stimulus to the economy in a downturn, potentially helping to prevent slumps that are as deep as the Great Recession, which wiped out 9 million jobs and left financial and social scars many Americans are still nursing."

We began pulling together the groundswell by organizing 22 prominent economists - including Nobel prize winners, former Fed officials, and former Obama administration economists - to sign a letter calling on the Federal Reserve to reconsider it's 2% inflation target. The broad consensus from a range of some of the most qualified economists in the world - many of whom are former colleagues of members of the Federal Reserve - captured the press's attention on Friday, June 9. We capitalized on the press cycle by continuing to promote the letter on social media under the hashtag #Rethink2percent and a broader range of high profile economists - like Paul Krugman - joined the discussion and voiced their support throughout the weekend.

Then on Monday our coalition rode the momentum generated in the Ivory Tower and took it to the streets with three coordinated actions at Federal Reserve Banks in New York City, Washington DC, and Philadelphia which generated local TV coverage on Univision, ABC in Philadelphia, NY1, and Nuestra Tele Noticias (NTN). This was the first time we were able to break into local TV coverage on monetary policy issues!

New York Communities for Change and Make the Road New York lead a march around the New York Federal Reserve with large inflatable "2" balloons representing the 2% inflation target and #GovernmentSachs banners. Latino workers questioned why 4 of the 9 members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) setting interest rates - including New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley - were from Goldman Sachs and why they set the arbitrary target of 2% to decide whether or not the economy should create more jobs and higher wages. See Getty Images here.

At the same time, in Philadelphia, One PA, led a rally addressed to Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Patrick Harker, another voting member of the FOMC who is a Goldman Sachs alum. Protestors told President Harker that when he raises rates, based on the outdated 2% target, Black communities who are still struggling suffer the most. One PA dumped pink slips at his door representing those who would be most hurt by his arbitrary decisions. Check out this clip from ABC in Philadelphia!

Finally, in Washington DC, members of SPACEs DC held a ralley outside the Board of Govenors building and asked the Fed to "Show us your math." They handed out the economist letter to Fed staffers on their lunch break and challenged them through powerful testimony to justify how the Fed could make decisions affecting the lives of workers based on a benchmark that didn't make sense. Check out this clip from Univision!

All that pressure - from former colleagues, administration officials, workers, Black and Brown communities, in national papers like the Wall Street Journal, all over Twitter, and even on local TV, - built towards a press conference that Janet Yellen held on Wednesday, June 14. When NPR's Marketplace asked her about our letter and the rationale behind the 2% inflation target Chair Yellen responded, "This is one of our most critical decisions and one we're attentive to evidence and outside thinking. It's one that we will be reconsidering at some future time."

That is how Janet Yellen is starting to warm to a policy the Fed once regarded as radical.

Although the Federal Reserve decided to hike rates last week, Chair Yellen's policy shift is a potentially much a more consequential decision for working families across the country.

CPD Impact

Nov 2016: During 2016, the Federal Reserve made an historic shift in how it makes the most important economic decisions in the country. For the first time they are taking into account low-income communities of color. For the past 100 years the Fed has been dominated by white, male, corporate executives who have cared little about building an economy that works for everyone.